A Promise
by TheFlamingBlade
Summary: He made her a promise, one he intended to keep. But not every promise can be kept, not perfectly anyway. A little difference to the Control ending. M!Shep/Ashley.


A Promise

**This is my take on the ending, even though EC satisfied me just fine. A little different take on the Control ending with Shepley romance using custom Jason Shepard, Paragon, Soldier, colonist, sole survivor. Enjoy!**

Shepard was never afraid of dying, he had survived worse. Akuze, Mindoir, Saren, the Omega-4 relay, all of them he had walked away from. He had died, yes, but he was brought back. What scared him now was he was making a choice that would affect the galaxy as a whole. He was going to change the galaxy in the next few minutes, and he didn't know if he was going to make it back. He had promised her he would, but that was a promise he may not be able to keep. Every choice was something that would be bittersweet, nothing would work out perfectly.

"**You must choose."** And then there was _him_. The controller of the Reapers, the Catalyst as it called itself, was probably the worst part about this. It was forcing to make a decision, one of the three choices, none altogether good. But he had to make a choice and fast.

'_I'm sorry Ash. I won't be able to keep my promise."_ He started walking towards his choice, the control. He was sacrificing himself to become the ruler of them all, every last Reaper. He dropped the Carnifex that had served him well in this final push. As he put his first hand on, he felt himself burning, like flame was eating up his entire being. He placed his other hand on and the feeling only intensified.

'_I love you Ashley, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you.' _Those were his last thoughts as he simply turned to ashes. What was strange to him was that he was not feeling the pain anymore. He seemed to be floating above the battle, or what was left of it. The Crucible had fired, it was working. He started to feel power inside him, like he was…commanding something. He felt the Reapers, like they were his hands. He commanded them to stop, to pull back, and they did so. He remembered something though, he had made a promise, and he now knew how to keep it.

**2 Months later, Ashley's P.O.V**

Two months, that's how long it had been to get the Normandy fit to take off again. It had been a fight for survival against hunger, the wildlife, and constant setbacks in the repairs. Only a few had died in the crash, some of the engineering crew had suffered injuries, luckily the Med-bay was still usable and Chakwas easily had them ready to help in a week or two. The communications were down until now and Joker was trying all Alliance channels to get any news on what had happened concerning the Crucible. Ash was standing by him the entire time waiting for news, not of the Crucible, but of him. She had heard Hackett broadcast that he had made it, and Shepard had better make it out. She had made him promise he would, she couldn't stand to lose him again.

"EDI have you found anything?" Joker asked. Ash could tell from his voice he was weary. Two months of had done a number on the cripple, on all of them really.

"Yes, but its sender is…strange." Her voice sounded curious.

"Strange? How so EDI?" Ash was concerned now; something strange to EDI was definitely not something to take lightly.

"The signal is being sent by a Reaper, by Harbinger no less." This sent Ash into panic.

"Harbinger? How did they find us? I thought the Crucible dealt with all the Reapers!" Ash was in full blown panic now. The Reapers had found them, the Crucible failed to work and now they would die.

"It did. Harbinger is alone, and it's trying to contact…you."

"Contact…me? But? How? "This was really starting to get weird. The biggest and most powerful Reaper, alone, and sending her a message, it made no sense whatsoever.

"Forward me the message EDI, I'll take it in Shepard's cabin." When she got to the elevator, she slid down to the floor and hugged her knees. _What is going on? Where is Shepard?_ She wiped her eyes with her forearm, feeling tears welling up. _You're a Spectre Ash, you're better than that. _As the elevator finished its ascent to Shepard's quarters she stood and walked out. As she opened the door to his quarters she heard the ping of an incoming call on his terminal. As she sat down she steeled herself for what might happen. When she answered the call what she saw was not at all what she expected.

"Ashley, I missed you so much." It was him.

It was her Jason Shepard.

**So this is the first of a multichapter fic, this will probably be like 4-5 chapters at max unless I get an idea to make me do more.**

**The idea of this came loosely off of TheRev28's fic '**_**A Final Message'**_**. Go read it, it's really good, and well, it's TheRev28. He's kind of famous for his '**_**Welcome To the Family'**_** and its sequel '**_**Welcome To the New Family'.**_** Probably the best SI ever, of all time. So, comments? Critiques? Love to hear them all, helps me get better.**

**Blade out. Keelah Se'lai.**


End file.
